shares

Rio Tinto (RIO) has won the poison pill challenge set by Ivanhoe Mines that refrains the Australian miner to increase its stake in Ivanhoe. After 18 months of dispute, an arbitrator decided that Rio Tinto may buy additional shares after its standstill agreement expires on January 18, 2012.

BHP Billiton (ASX:BHP)buys back $241.8 million of its shares through a $10 billion capital management program. The program was announced last February 16 and finished on June 29. The company bought back $146.9 million shares in its local listing and another $94.9 million in BHP Billiton Plc listed in London. All shares were cancelled upon settlement.

After chief executive Alan Robertson sold 500,000 shares in the company, Pharmaxis (ASX:PXS) stock dropped 74 percent to 86 cents per share today. The fall in shares came after a European panel vetoed the release of the company's cystic fibrosis drug Bronchitol.

Shares from National Australia Bank's (ASX:NAB), Westpac (ASX:WBC), ANZ Bank (ASX:ANZ), and Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) plummet as

After confirming that talks between major shareholders Foxtel and Liberty Global would proceed, Austar United Communications' (ASX:AUN) shares rose more than 7 percent. The talks can lead to a takeover from Foxtel, but no formal bids have been guaranteed.

Shares rose to $1.315, adding as much as 9 cents or 7.4 percent. Shares in Austar are valued at around $1.63 billion.

According to ASX study, 43 percent of Australians own shares and a quarter more plans to buy next year. The number has risen in the past two years, along with direct ownership.

A research by the Australian Securities Exchange shows $7.3 million adults owned shares by the end of 2010, which constitutes 43 percent of the population. This is up by 41 percent since the study was conducted in 2008.

Andrew Forrest, the chief executive of the Perth based mining company Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) has announced on Monday that New York based billionaire Phil Falcone has offloaded as much as $400 million worth of Fortescue shares during May and June. Mr. Forrest reveled that the hedge fund of Mr. Falcone (Harbinger Capital) has sold more than 100 million shares if the miner although previously ensured that it would stay on the register.

Wattyl (WYL), the Australia based paint and other surface coating supplier and manufacturer which supplies its products to the domestic, commercial and industrial market is going to be taken over by US based Valspar as the Wattyl board has suggested the investors to accept its bid which worth as much as $142 million. However, the Australian paint supplier has managed to improve the bid by as much as $32 million through a month long negotiation.

Australia based Elders (ELD), the company which focuses on core rural and automotive operations saw its market capitalisation reducing to half based on the news of an impending loss for the year to September 30. Malcolm Jackman, the chief executive of the company has announced yesterday that the company may post a loss within the range of $8 million and $14 million for the year where less than a month ago he informed the investors that the turnaround of the company was right on track.

The shares of Telstra (TLS), the largest telecommunications carrier of Australia is likely to start gaining in the stock market as the company is expecting to see its $11 billion worth of NBN deal coming on board. NBN Co. and Telstra has announced the in-principle agreement on Sunday according to which the carrier is to decommission its copper and cable telephone and broadband services and will have to move its users to the national broadband network which worth $43 billion.